Scott Ian has spent decades defending one of the most divisive decisions in thrash metal. He has stopped.
Appearing on the Naked Lunch podcast with hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild, the ANTHRAX guitarist revisited the 1992 dismissal of Joey Belladonna, the singer who had fronted the band through "Spreading The Disease", "Among The Living", "State Of Euphoria" and "Persistence Of Time" — the run that made them one of the Big Four.
Ian was careful not to hide behind the group. "It wasn't just me. It was a band decision back then," he said. There was no rash meeting, no single flashpoint; the four of them had convinced themselves that the music was moving somewhere Belladonna could not follow, and they moved as a united front. John Bush of ARMORED SAINT came in and sang on 1993's "Sound Of White Noise".
What has changed is Ian's read on the premise itself. "In hindsight, I've said it — that I was wrong," he said. "If we would've really taken the time, there's no reason why Joey could have sang on that record."
The reckoning came with the writing of his 2014 memoir, "I'm The Man: The Story Of That Guy From Anthrax". Laying the sequence out on the page, he could not make the justification hold. He is emphatic that none of this reflects on Bush, whom he still calls "a great singer" and whose ANTHRAX era he has publicly celebrated — including Bush's recently announced European shows built entirely around that material.
The reunion, when it finally came in 2010, took a phone call and a coffee. Charlie Benante reached out; the answer was immediate. "Joey said, 'Yes, it's all I've ever wanted to do,'" Ian recalled. "It was that simple, that quick and easy." The Big Four shows followed within months.
Sixteen years on, Ian's verdict on the second act is unambiguous. "It's been 16 years since Joey rejoined, and we've done the best work we've ever done."
That work is about to get a new chapter. "Cursum Perficio", the band's twelfth studio album and their first in ten years, arrives on September 18 via Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe, trailed by the singles "In The Cold", "The Edge Of Perfection" and "Everybody's Got A Plan".
Source: blabbermouth.net